What’s wrong with translating keywords?
Translation automation relies on written language but the impact of speech for user-chosen keywords should not be overlooked.
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Andy Atkins-Krüger's latest articles
Google: The European Court Is Really Telling You To Be More “Relevant”
So, it finally happened. After years of people telling me that “Europe” will do nothing about Google and me saying that one day “Europe” will probably bite back, it did. “Europe” bit off a whole chewy chunk of Google and all other search engines in just one surprise and relatively unexpected verdict. The hysteria surrounding […]
Yandex Begins Purging Links From Its Rankings For Some Moscow Verticals
Yandex chose the Bynet Week conference in the city of Minsk in Belarus to announce that they have “Started to remove links gradually” from the Yandex MatrixNet algorithm for commercial queries in just the Moscow region. Alexander Sadovsky, Head of Web Search at Yandex, made the announcement yesterday following on from his original explanation in […]
Facebook Gives Yandex Access To Its Firehose In Return For Improved Presentation Of Its Own Content
Yandex has announced that it has signed a deal with Facebook which will give the leading search engine in Russia access to the Facebook firehose for “public” content published in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, other CIS countries and Turkey, where Yandex also operates. Content will be available for indexing by Yandex as soon as it has […]
Yandex To Stop Counting Links As A Ranking Factor For Commercial Queries In Moscow
Leading Russian search engine Yandex is to cease attributing any ranking factor value to links for commercial queries in its Moscow regional results, it announced yesterday to an audience in Moscow thus opening the door to a world after links. Alexander Sadovsky, who is the Head of Web Search at Yandex, announced the change at […]
Global Issues Shift Global SEO & SEM Budgets Even Faster To Asia
It’s always interesting to contemplate how global events affect us, even in our own back yards — and turbulent times have definitely impacted online marketing budgets. An analysis of several hundred clients with online marketing initiatives spanning over 100 regions around the world clearly shows that shifts in budget allocation reflect the stories we see […]
Master The Management Of International SEO Services Vendors
Today, I’d like to address an increasingly significant and treacherous topic for global marketers, a topic which I believe is insufficiently discussed — vendor management. The issues surrounding vendor management are principally related to cost, quality and control. First though, we need to put the situation into its wider context. No global agency vendor actually […]
In Memoriam: Ilya Segalovich Of Yandex, Search Engine Pioneer, Leader & Visionary
Ilya Segalovich, co-founder of Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, was disconnected from life support on July 27. During routine cancer treatment, he unexpectedly slipped into a coma earlier in the week from which he did not recover. I had the honor of knowing Ilya personally. In addition to being one of the most brilliant search […]
Budget Flexibility: Accounting For Regional Differences In AdWords
Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of odd spending patterns in client accounts, especially when it comes to international Google AdWords campaigns. No, I’m not referring to mobile or enhanced campaigns — I’m talking about to a failure to account for regional differences in how online consumers search and convert. How you approach the issue […]
Global Site Infrastructure Plan Essential For Effective SEO & Usability
Targeting the world with a website is a huge opportunity for today’s marketers — but very few businesses start out with that goal. The vast majority target a particular nation first, prove the business model, grow their business’ success, and then consider rolling out globally. What this actually means is that most Web projects which […]
3 Reasons Why Deploying Hreflang Shouldn’t Be An Auto-Reflex!
I apologize for talking yet again about hreflang — but there is an important point I really want to make for those working in geo-targeting. For some, “hreflang” is becoming an auto-reflex, and that’s definitely not helping their international success. Allow me to explain why. A quick recap of hreflang first. Hreflang is an attribute […]
3 Ways To Prioritize Your Global Search Marketing Efforts To Maximize ROI
I was pleased to be part of a great panel at SMX London on prioritizing your search marketing efforts. It included SEO veterans Mikkel deMib Svendsen of deMib.com, Julia Longdon of ContentMango and Dave Davies of Beanstalk. For me, this was an extremely useful session with a huge hidden ROI benefit for search marketers not […]
Yandex Announces “Interactive Snippets” & SERP Redesign At Moscow Conference
Yandex has presented what it claims is a new concept in search engine results pages to a Russian audience at an online industry conference in Moscow. They’ve nicknamed the new concept “Islands,” but are describing it functionally as “Interactive Snippets” and the next step on from rich snippets. To be launched in a few weeks […]
How Latvia Teaches Us That “Think Global, Act Local” Is No Longer Useful In Search Marketing
Last week, I was lucky to join a number of great speakers at the iLive conference in Riga, Latvia. As with all conferences, I learned a lot. (I simply can’t relate to those who go to a conference and say they’ve heard it all before.) I learned at least as much from the people I met […]
Is Multinational SEO Dead? No, But It’s Changing…
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the term “SEO” and what it really means today. After a record run of attending conferences ranging from San Jose, Toronto, London and Leeds (soon to be joined by Seattle and Riga), I’ve become very conscious of a cloud of what can only be described as “SEO Depression” unfolding over conference […]
The Dangers Of Brainstorming Your International Content Marketing Strategy
Brainstormings are wonderful things, and we creative types really love them! But, the writing is on the wall for brainstormings in international content marketing! We know that content is the new marketing driver which many are talking about. Google has driven us to it with a variety of animals (Pandas and Penguins) and has threatened […]
Latest Tips From Google & Others At The International Search Summit @ SMX
Speakers at the International Search Summit, which took place alongside SMX West in San Jose last week, shared many useful tips on improving various aspects of international search from geo-targeting issues to targeting and handling different languages. Maile Ohye of Google spent over an hour speaking to delegates and answering detailed questions covering many of […]
Why Pay Per Click Is Such A Beautiful Tool For SEO
SEO and PPC fans often find themselves in different parts of the building, on different floors and sometimes on a different planet. This shouldn’t really be the case, but is. If you start to think of PPC as a device of SEO, it takes on a very different light and your own attitude shifts slightly. […]
15 Tips To Launch A Successful Multilingual PPC Campaign
Unfortunately for those of us who work in the international space, launching a global PPC campaign is much less successful than doing so domestically? Why is this and what’s to be done? Culture and language is the answer you’re expecting from me – right? Yes, that’s definitely an important part of the mix, but there […]
How International Pricing Strategy & Website Forms Impact Global Search Marketing
In search marketing, we work in the communication business. Two aspects of communication which are often forgotten — or at least not seen to be a part of the “message” — are the buying or inquiring forms and the price. Let’s deal with the forms first. Many writers at Search Engine Land have talked about […]
Yandex Launches Experimental “Wonder” Voice Social Search App For The US
Yandex, the company behind the leading search engine in Russia with a presence in Turkey, has taken a radically different direction to its search activities by launching a voice social search app called “Wonder” on Apple’s iOS platform for the US market. Described by the company as “experimental,” the app responds to users’ spoken queries […]
Keyword Research For Market Discovery: An Essential Tool For Export Marketers
Have you ever read those blogs and websites which start with the words, “74% Of The World’s Consumers Don’t Speak English,” or “54% Of The Connected World Is Outside The US?” They’re usually the first post of someone who has just discovered “global” and has been shocked by the numbers. International Business Is Becoming The […]
Why Is Search Engine Results Personalization A Driver For Using Local Domains Internationally?
Have you seen or read much about what steps we SEOs should take to manage our activities around a world where an increasing personalization of search engine results is an ever present feature? I’ve seen a few things about needing to take less note of rank positions and more of traffic but can’t recall much […]
International Search Predictions For 2013 – Perhaps More Accurate Than The Mayans?
As I write this piece, the Mayan calendar is about to end bringing about the demise of everything. So, if you’re reading this, we survived and the predictions were wrong. Predicting the future is always tricky, but I’m going to have a go at predicting 2013 in the confidence that more of what I say […]
Yandex Launches Personalized Search Results For Eastern Europe
Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex has launched an approach to personalizing search results for users in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, affecting 75-80% of search queries and potentially all of the search results a user sees. Yandex has been testing the approach throughout the last year and found that users click 37% more often on […]
If Content Quality Is Key, Why Is So Little Attention Paid To Quality For Global Sites?
Everywhere I go and in every conversation I have, the importance of the quality of content keeps on cropping up. You’ve no doubt had the same conversations where Pandas and Penguins keep poking in their nosy beaks? So, here’s my question: “If quality is so important, why do we give up caring when it’s in […]
The 6 Most Important Things International Search Marketers Should Know To Be Successful
Last week, Bill Hunt asked readers to decide what would be the most important task they could perform in 60 minutes — a great question which also set me thinking. No matter how many times I thought about the question, I have kept returning to the same answer — improving the knowledge of our people. […]
What Google’s Webmaster Tools Tells Us About CTR In European Markets
Last time, I was talking about the analysis of click through rates by position based on data from Google’s Webmaster Tools and I promised we’d look at a wider range of countries. The chart below shows you exactly that data extracted from a wide range of webmaster data to give some relatively consistent averages. The […]
What Google’s Webmaster Tools Tell Us About International Click Through Rates
Last week, I was taking delegates on an international SEO course through their paces on using the data Google so generously provides in their webmaster tools. I’m a little puzzled that more people don’t dip into the data, analyse it and then take actions on their campaigns. So, high time for me to share some […]
Using Canonical & Hreflang Tags To Launch New Markets Quickly
Last week, someone accused me of being too technical when describing geo-targeting settings — it followed a conversation where I was told that one of my discussions was not “advanced” enough! So, I apologise in advance, as this post is going to be too technical for some and not for others! It’s also a little […]
Try Auditing Your Trust Anchors To Succeed Globally With Digital Marketing
Almost anyone who specialises in international SEO or SEM will tell you that within a few years, it becomes pretty obvious that most marketers’ problems have little to do with SEO or SEM techniques and are much more to do with brands cutting corners in their enthusiasm to go global. It’s inevitable really. Organizations expanding […]
Why Infographics Are Not Enough For Successful Global Content Marketing
No one can deny the rapid rise in the popularity of infographics. No wonder, since they are graphically attractive, they solve user problems of information overload and they make great webpages. Oh, and then there’s that point about infographics being great for link building too! Personally, I love looking at infographics − they make life bearable […]
Content Marketing: What Are The Implications When Working On A Global Scale?
As “online marketing” evolves, you’ll note I’ve used a generic term there rather than SEO — the titles and descriptions of what we do on a daily basis change as does the focus of the effort. Both “Panda” and “Penguin” in their different ways have had a dramatic influence on how important people think “content” […]
Should You Transliterate Your Brand For International SEO?
A question which is hitting my desk on a daily basis at the moment is, “Should I transliterate my brand for greater success in China, Korea and the other double-byte countries?” The very first time I saw this I though, “I’ll just wing off a quick email to respond to this,” then discovered that my […]
Global CMOs: Here Are 6 Reasons Why You Cannot Manage Search Through Translation
Sometimes it feels like a one-man crusade. Now in my 15th year of search marketing (yes, I started young) I have been trying to explain to Global SEOs for much of that time that translation is not a perfect process. But it appears I have been talking to the wrong people. I should have been […]
Are The Analysts Wrong About Google’s Undervalued Stock?
Writers and analysts who keep an eye on the value of certain stocks, have been writing all year about the curious phenomenon of Google’s stock price. They generally say something along the lines of, “If you compare Google’s cash generation capabilities, why is it valued so much less than Apple?” or similar statements. Is it […]
Is International SEO Really That Different From “National” SEO?
Usually, when I’m asked if “international” search or SEO is really different, the person asking the question has made up their mind that it’s actually not. Usually, they have a view that international SEO is all about infrastructure, domains and local domains and not much else. But is this true? You’ll probably not expect me, […]
Why Google Should Retire The Global Market Finder
Does Google really “get” international? There are clearly some very clever people within Google who do — but the corporation’s behavior bizarrely still tends to suggest a silicon valley tech company that’s a little insulated from the non-English speaking world. Take, for example, the “Global Market Finder” tool which you can find here. This tool […]
The Latest On Google’s Hreflang Tag & Other Learnings From International Search Summit @SMX Advanced
Google has been moving lots of goal posts for us all recently and the “Hreflang” tag is a case in point. A succession of Google speakers has presented the latest “Hreflang” thinking at International Search Summits @SMX throughout 2012. On each occasion, the presentation and explanation was different from the one before. The bad news […]
Is It Possible To Benchmark Country Against Country In Multinational Search Campaigns?
No. That is to say, no method of comparing country to country statistics fairly and accurately really exists. Thank you for reading this article and I hope you have a good day. Now, don’t tell me you want me to explain that? In the case of global organisations, the performance of businesses, people and campaigns […]